Chapter 454 — Unexpected Difficulty & Solution

Liora was determined to cut the Zerg Queen’s corpse into pieces to suit her needs.

However, the reality soon shattered her dreams.

The moment the blade of Nothingness landed on the Zerg Queen’s shoulder, it didn’t neatly cleave her limb as one would expect.

Rather, the blade of Nothingness instantly shattered upon impact, transforming into its primal force and dissipating.

Only a faint white mark was left on the Zerg Queen’s shoulders, being the sole evidence of Liora’s earlier strike.

And, as if to ridicule her for overestimating herself, even that small white mark soon disappeared.

Liora watched this happen and maintained a calm expression.

She pretended that nothing had happened, clenched her fists, and took action again as if it were the first time.

Having learned from the previous lesson, she didn’t merely activate her Demonforce and the power of Nothingness.

She used her full strength, urging not only the concepts that had been fused with her Throne, but even her awakened World of Heart.

The world transformed into an illusory glow around her sword with a move of her mind, as the blade slashed down with astonishing speed and destructive power.

This time, the blade proved far tougher and did not shatter.

It penetrated the Zerg Queen’s skin and dug deep into her flesh, only stopping upon coming into contact with her silver, reinforced bones.

Blood wove itself around the injury, seemingly wishing to reconnect the broken parts.

Thankfully, Liora had expected some form of obstruction and moved quickly.

She didn’t allow the Zerg Queen to heal, but pushed her blade further into her body.

The horrifying sound of bones grinding echoed, followed by a loud thump as the pale arm slammed onto the ground, creating a deep crater upon landing.

A surprising scene occurred.

The giant arm, long enough to match the colossal size of the Zerg Queen, began to shrink down.

It was tens of meters in length at first. Yet, it turned into an ordinary, human-like hand in the blink of an eye.

Liora was caught off guard but quickly regained her composure.

She didn’t stand there dumbfoundedly, but took action once more.

She didn’t attempt to move the arm into the Space Orb or her space ring, understanding that these utilities had no way to contain the opponent, given their life level.

At best, the space itself would burst, and the space ring would explode. At worst, it might cause unexpected consequences that affect her and place her in danger.

With that in mind, Liora chose to activate the Devil Empress’s Furnace.

Its lid was thrown aside, leaving its mouth wide open.

Then, the powerful devouring force emerged.

Just like when it had encountered the complete Zerg Queen, this devouring force faced a large amount of resistance from the hand, which seemed to want to break free.

Fortunately, given that it was only a limb and that Liora continuously poured her demonic energy into the furnace, she ultimately succeeded in collecting it.

A few minutes later, the pale, strangely beautiful arm of the Zerg Queen had vanished from the clearing.

On the other side, the Devil Empress’s Furnace trembled violently, needing Liora to work in order to suppress it.

The resistance she later faced when activating Absolute Extraction was even more ferocious.

It had only taken Liora a few minutes to extract the possessions of the Thousand-Eyed Devil, while using Absolute Extraction on the Archdevil insectoid was nearly instantaneous.

However, when it came to the Zerg Queen, or rather the Zerg Queen’s arm, this process lasted for several hours.

Thankfully, the results were enough to make Liora’s efforts absolutely worth it.

--

It took quite some time before Liora opened her eyes again.

The lingering taste of being immersed in the sea of insights was still vivid within her mind, making it difficult for her to extricate herself.

The items she extracted from the Zerg Queen were no different from those of the insectoids she had devoured before.

Demonic energy—perhaps the one she had accumulated during her "slumber"—and the concept of Devouring, which was a deeply ingrained instinct of all the members of the Zerg race.

"Of course, the concept of Devouring embodied by the Zerg Queen is countless times more precious than that of the insectoids outside."

"After all, these things can hardly even be considered as her descendants. Not even Zerg Servants."

"At most, they are creatures born from the energy that the Zerg Queen instinctively absorbs and emits to the outside world.", Liora shook her head, her gaze turning inward, towards her soul space.

Just using Absolute Extraction on one of the Zerg Queen’s arms had granted her massive benefits.

The fused concept of Devouring was enough for her Throne to undergo another qualitative change.

From forty percent, it had become only thirty percent illusory, with the other part having taken on a substantial form.

This increase—or rather decrease—was equal in percentage to the one she gained upon devouring the Archdevil insectoids outside.

However, one had to know that the difficulty of advancing increased once one got closer to the Throne Stage.

Even if she were to devour all the insectoids again, Liora strongly doubted that her Throne would have turned thirty-five percent illusory, much less reached the current point.

Overall, the effect was more than double!

"And this is only the effect of devouring one of her four limbs."

"If I devour them all, or even the Zerg Queen’s entire corpse, won’t I be able to reach the Throne Stage directly?", Liora couldn’t help but wonder, her gaze towards the corpse turning fiery.

If anyone did not know any better, they would mistakenly believe that she was ogling a beautiful woman with impure motives.

Of course, this was not far from the truth.

Liora shook her head and suppressed these inexplicable thoughts. Having already tasted the sweetness once, she no longer hesitated despite knowing of the Hollow Ancestor’s possible involvement.

Approaching another of the Zerg Queen’s limbs, she slashed down with her blade before collecting it with the Devil Empress’s Furnace.

Then, another round of Absolute Extraction began, followed by another qualitative change in her Throne.